Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Pot/Kettle: George Bush yesterday told leaders of the oil-rich states of the Middle East that they must face up to a future without their precious hydrocarbons. Alone, apparently.

On Tap: Faced with too many people and not enough water and the odds that neither problem is going to diminish, Los Angeles will build treatment facilities to recycle sewage into drinking water.

Windfall: The pandering class wants to tax Exxon's windfall profits. After all, out of nearly $4.00 a gallon, the government gets about 50 cents, while the oil company gets about 22 cents - about 1.4 cents a cup for a liquid they had to drill a mile into the ocean floor for, pump ashore, refine, pump through a thousand miles of pipe then truck to the corner station. Think of that over with your morning latté, $2.95, and 14 cents of pure profit.

Summer Break: There are 31 million kids who qualify for free breakfast and lunch at school, plus getting something to tide them over the weekend in the Backpack programs many schools run. During the school year.

Senseless Census: Nearly 30% of all wildlife species have become extinct in the last 40 years. Land-based species have fallen 25%, marine species by 28% and 29% of freshwater species have become extinct. Not counting the polar bears.

Good News/Bad News: The administration wants to close the torture center detainment facility at Guantanamo, while the military is building a 40-acre detention complex in Afghanistan. Maybe they'll name it in honor of John McCain.

You Bet Your Life: Americans have dropped from 11th place in life expectancy to 42nd. Over 30 of the countries with longer life expectancies have those awful, second-rate socialized single- payer healthcare systems.

Concentrate: ICE - gotta love the acronym - wants to build three more "detainment facilities" for families, as the two existing ones are both full and godawful places to put kids. These are separate facilities from the camps Haliburton already built. One new 'family' facility would be on each coast and one on the Southwestern border. Canadians seem to know better.

Killing Fields: Legal use of medically prescribed marijuana is punishable by death - if you need a transplant.

Think It's Going To Rain? Surveys show increasing unhappiness about the increasing disparity in income throughout the world. Overwhelming majorities - 76% in Spain, 80% in the US, 87% in Germany, 80% in China - favor increasing taxes on the rich and expect the inequality to grow more obscene. And it will, as long as the politicians stay bought.

Hot Air: Before you get too excited about global warming not causing an increase in the number and strength of hurricanes you might want to remember "Garbage In/Garbage Out" in computer models, then go to Real Climate and read the science behind the hoo-ha.

Coming to Terms : Today's newbie is PIK, which stands for Payment In Kind, which is what Claire's Stores is doing: Instead of paying the interest due on $350 million in bonds, it is going to give bondholders IOUs for the missing interest. They are called "toggle bonds."

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.